Peeling Back The Bark
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Forgotten Characters from Forest History: "Woody"
By Eben Lehman on December 9, 2010Everyone knows Smokey Bear, Woodsy Owl, and maybe even Ranger Rick Raccoon, but there are many other forest and forestry-related fictional characters that long ago fell by the wayside. We here at Peeling Back the Bark would like to shed some light on a few of these forgotten characters, discussing their place in forest history…
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Weeks Act Centennial Series: Revisiting “The Lands Nobody Wanted”
By Guest Contributor on December 3, 2010To help celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Weeks Act in 2011, Peeling Back the Bark has asked Dr. Bob Healy of Duke University’s Nicholas School for the Environment to write a series of blog posts in which he’ll reflect on his classic book, The Lands Nobody Wanted, and the future of the eastern national…
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Guest lecturer Nancy Langston on precaution and environmental health
By Guest Contributor on November 9, 2010We’ve asked this year’s Lynn W. Day lecturer Nancy Langston to discuss an aspect of her latest book, Toxic Bodies: Hormone Disruptors and the Legacy of DES (Yale University Press, 2010) as a prelude to her lecture on Nov. 11. Her current research on Lake Superior extends this interest in environmental health to the health…
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Back to the Future, Part IV: “Where we’re logging, we don’t need roads”
By James Lewis on October 22, 2010The 25th anniversary of the iconic film franchise Back to the Future and the Blu-ray release of the trilogy on October 26 got us thinking about what forestry and logging were supposed to look like today as predicted by the best minds of the mid-20th century. Some of those same minds had predicted that we…
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National Forest Products Week: October 17-23, 2010
By Eben Lehman on October 19, 2010This week marks the 50th anniversary of National Forest Products Week, a designation created to recognize the importance of forest products to America’s growth and economic development, as well as the forest industry’s contributions to improved forest management and forest utilization. This annual observance dates back to September 13, 1960, when Congress passed a joint…
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Teddy Roosevelt, “Uncle Remus,” and Supporting the Weeks Act
By James Lewis on October 8, 2010One hundred years ago today, on October 8, 1910, former president Theodore Roosevelt addressed the Southern Conservation Congress in Atlanta, Georgia. Roosevelt was just one of many speakers during the two-day meeting called to “discuss the problems of utilizing to the best permanent advantage the resources of the South as a whole.” The meeting itself…
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Fire Prevention Week: October 3-9, 2010
By Eben Lehman on October 6, 2010This week (October 3-9, 2010) marks Fire Prevention Week, a designation intended to promote the importance of fire safety and awareness as well as to pay tribute to the nation’s firefighters. Dating back almost a full century, the observance began in October 1911 when eight states issued proclamations formally setting aside October 9th as “Fire…
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Tongass National Forest Celebrates Another Anniversary
By James Lewis on September 10, 2010On September 10, 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt established the Tongass National Forest in southeastern Alaska. This month, the Forest History Society is publishing a history of the region, Tongass Timber: A History of Logging and Timber Utilization in Southeast Alaska, by James Mackovjak (you may remember Jim from his cross-country bike trip documented on this…
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The "Big Blowup" centennial anniversary is this weekend
By James Lewis on August 19, 2010Coming only five years after the U.S. Forest Service’s establishment, the devastating series of forest fires that swept over Montana, Idaho, and Washington on August 20–22 in what is known as the “Big Blowup” struck at a critical and pivotal time in the history of the young agency. Ever since the dismissal of Chief Gifford…
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Notes from the von Salisch Symposium
By Guest Contributor on August 6, 2010Walter Cook shared with us his notes from a recent trip to Poland to attend a symposium on Heinrich von Salisch. Cook and Doris Wehlau translated the 1902 edition of von Salisch’s book Forest Aesthetics, which is available from the Forest History Society. Heinrich von Salisch was a forester who lived in Postel, a hamlet…
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From the Louisiana Swamps to Major League All-Star
By James Lewis on July 13, 2010This week’s Major League All-Star Game in Anaheim, California, brings to mind baseball history as seen through the FHS Library. In the early 20th century, in addition to the two major leagues in the Northeast and the numerous minor leagues around the country, semi-pro baseball teams were sponsored by business owners—including lumber mill owners—and business…
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Celebrate "National Parks and Recreation Month" by reading about both
By James Lewis on July 7, 2010July is National Parks and Recreation Month in the United States. First designated in 1984, Congress did not intend it to celebrate national parks, as some websites would have you believe. Rather, the purpose is to celebrate parks at all governmental levels and recreation in general, and to recognize and honor “the vital contributions of…
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New Collection: American Tree Farm System Records
By James Lewis on June 22, 2010Gifford Pinchot famously wrote in Breaking New Ground, “Forestry is Tree Farming. Forestry is handling trees so that one crop follows another. To grow trees as a crop is Forestry.” While next June marks the official 70th anniversary of the first certified tree farm, the concept of renewable forestry can be traced back to the…
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The Great Hurricane of 1938
By Eben Lehman on June 8, 2010June marks the official start of the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season, which this year is forecast to be a busy one. As deadly and destructive storms, hurricanes are also major agents of landscape change and forest disturbance in many parts of the southern and eastern United States. The Forest History Society library and archival collections…
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May 18, 1980: Mount St. Helens erupts, leaves a mess of documents
By James Lewis on May 18, 2010On this day in 1980, Mount St. Helens erupted in Washington on the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and left an altered landscape as well as a mess of historical documents in its wake. The deadliest volcanic event in U.S. history flattened 200 square miles of forest on the surrounding private and public lands. Its impact…
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Newly revised edition of "America’s Fires" now available
By James Lewis on May 17, 2010My Google news home page has a “Forest Service” section, which captures any article that has that phrase in it. Usually the article is about the U.S. Forest Service but it will also grab items about state or other national forest services too. Consequently, nearly every day there is a news item about fire somewhere…
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“Big Blowup” Webpage Marks Centennial of 1910 Fires
By James Lewis on May 4, 2010On August 20-21, 1910, fires driven by gale-force winds consumed 3 million acres, several towns, and at least 85 lives in the Montana, Idaho, and Washington. Known as either “The Big Blowup” or “The Big Burn,” no other event in U.S. Forest Service history has had a greater impact on the agency. While heroes were…
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New issue of Forest History Today makes history
By James Lewis on April 29, 2010The latest issue of Forest History Today is now available online! Feature articles include two pieces on the Bitterroot National Forest controversy in the 1960s, one by Fred Swanson on G.M. Brandborg, who started the controversy, and another by Lou Romero, who worked there at the time; a look at the first half-century of the…
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A Bit of Mirth for Earth Day
By James Lewis on April 9, 2010With Earth Day fast approaching, we thought it might be helpful to provide links to some of our related materials. Teachers will want to look at two things. Our middle school curriculum “If Trees Could Talk” has a module “From Arbor Day to Earth Day.” Check it out at: https://foresthistory.org/Education/Curriculum/Activity/activ4/activ4.html. Appropriate for both middle school…
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FHS Comes Strong on the Weeks Act
By James Lewis on March 25, 2010Though the centennial of the Weeks Act is next year, the Forest History Society is already fielding queries about it from U.S. Forest Service employees and others whose work and livelihoods have been affected by the landmark legislation. Sponsored by Rep. John Weeks of Massachusetts and passed in 1911, the Weeks Act authorized the federal…
